Persons suffering from arthritis of the hands and fingers have great difficulty in performing the most simpliest of human tasks, such as eating food with a fork or spoon or brushing the teeth. Arthritics often cannot manipulate their fingers so that they can grasp the handles of the instrument needed to perform these tasks. The fingers can sometimes only be moved to form a partially closed fist and even then with great difficulty.
Attempts have been made in the past to provide some type of aid for holding instruments by a person suffering from diseases of the hands. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,497,418 discloses a device having a rolling support for a writing instrument. In this patent, balls or rolling elements are provided on a flat bottom surface of a dome-shaped member for rolling over a surface, such as a table during a writing exercise. This structure is cumbersome to use and a disabled person using the device has difficulty in securing a writing instrument in place on the device because of the overall design.
Other references in this field include U.S. Pat. No. 1,438,114 relating to a device for permanently securing a pen to a ball to teach writing to children, and British Pat. No. 5783 relating to a pen holder which operates to prevent writers' cramp.
None of the foregoing devices are suitable for use by arthritics and others suffering from diseases or injuries of the hand. For this reason, a need has arisen for an improved eating and oral hygiene aid for use by such persons.